Portable hair care product with digital music capabilities

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a portable hair care product that is configured to store, receive, and play music such as in an electronic format. A portable hair care device comprises a grasping region sized and shape to be grasped and held by the hand of a user such that the user can carry the hair care product. The device also includes an internal speaker, a digital storage element configured to store a digital music file, and a processor configured to process the digital music file and send a signal to the internal speaker for playing music from the digital music file.

REFERENCE TO PRIORITY DOCUMENT

This application claims priority of co-pending U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/379,132, entitled PORTABLE HAIR CARE PRODUCTWITH DIGITAL MUSIC CAPABILITIES and filed on Sep. 1, 2010. Thedisclosure of the Provisional Patent Application is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to beauty care products and moreparticularly relates to a portable hair care product.

Various portable devices, such as blow dryers, flat irons, steamers, orcurling irons can be used to style a person's hair. A person may oftenspend a great amount of time each day using such portable hair caredevices to style his or her hair. It can be desirable, while using suchdevices, to also take advantage of the time by performing anotheractivity, such as listening to music. In order to listen to music whilestyling hair, a person will typically place a separate music player,such as a radio, CD player, etc., in the room where the styling istaking place. This can be inconvenient as it requires extra time andspace to arrange for such a music player.

Therefore, it would be desirable to have a device for use in stylingone's hair that is configured to play music without requiring the userto attach separate device such as an external speaker. In view of theforegoing, there is a need for an improved hair care device that isadapted to play music.

SUMMARY

Disclosed is a portable hair care product that is configured to store,receive, and play music such as in an electronic format. In anembodiment, there is disclosed a portable hair care device, comprising:a grasping region sized and shape to be grasped and held by the hand ofa user such that the user can carry the hair care product; an internalspeaker; a digital storage element configured to store a digital musicfile; and a processor configured to process the digital music file andsend a signal to the internal speaker for playing music from the digitalmusic file.

Various embodiments of the portable hair care device are describedbelow. Other features and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription of various embodiments, which illustrate, by way of example,the principles of the disclosed devices and methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a portable hair care deviceconfigured to play digital music files.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of a set of playback controls of thedevice.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present subject matter is further described, it is to beunderstood that this subject matter described herein is not limited toparticular embodiments described, as such may of course vary. It is alsoto be understood that the terminology used here in is for the purpose ofdescribing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to belimiting. Unless defined otherwise, all technical terms used herein havethe same meaning as commonly understood by one skilled in the art towhich this subject matter belongs.

As will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading thisdisclosure, each of the individual embodiments described and illustratedherein has discrete components and features which may be readilyseparated from or combined with the features of any of the other severalembodiments without departing from the scope of the subject matterdescribed herein. Any recited method can be carried out in the order ofevents recited or in any other order which is logically possible.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a portable hair care device comprisedof a flat iron 105. Although described herein in the context of being aflat iron, it should be appreciated that the portable hair care devicecan be any of a variety of portable, hand held hair care devicesincluding, for example, hair dryers, hair curlers, hair rods, tongs,etc. The musical playing capabilities of the flat iron 105 could beadapted for other portable hair care products. The flat iron 105includes a communication port 110 that is configured to receiveelectronic data, such as music data. In an embodiment, the music data isconfigured pursuant to digital audio encoding, including MP3, MP4, aswell as any other electronic music format. The flat iron 105 includesinternal components that are configured to read, decode, and play themusic data to produce an audio signal that is played on a speakercoupled to the flat iron 105. The speaker can be contained within anouter housing of the flat iron such that there is no requirement tocouple an external speaker to the flat iron.

The flat iron 105 has a size and shape that is configured such that ahuman user can grasp and hold the flat iron in his or her hand. In thisregard, the flat iron 105 has a handle region 115 that is sized andshaped to be held by a user. The flat iron 105 further includes a pairof arms 120 that are pivotably connected to one another at a first endof the device. In this regard, the arms can be pivoted toward or awayfrom one another to grasp and release hair positioned between the arms120.

With reference still to FIG. 1, heating elements 125 are positioned oninternal surfaces of the arms 120. When hair is positioned between thearms and the arms 120 are moved toward one another, the heating elements125 heat and straighten the hair in a well-known manner. The flat iron105 includes a power source that is configured to provide electricalpower to the components of the flat iron. The power source can be analternating current source or it may be a direct current source. Theflat iron 105 can include a removable or permanent battery.

A set of music playback controls 130 is located on the flat iron 105,such as on one of the arms. The controls 130 include one or more userinput elements, such as buttons, that can be used to control playback ofthe music audio files contains in the flat iron 105. In the illustratedembodiment, the controls 130 are located on the surface of one of thearms 120. It should be appreciated that the controls can be positionedat any of a wide variety of locations on the flat iron 105.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the set of controls 130. The controls130 may include any of a variety of buttons, including a play button,fast forward button, rewind button, next/previous track button, stopbutton, etc. The buttons may be hard buttons that can be mechanicallymanipulated (such as pressed) to control music playback. In anotherembodiment, the buttons may be virtual buttons that are displayed on atouch screen such as an Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or other type ofscreen. The touch screen can be configured to display the buttons in avariety of formats. Any means for accepting user input regarding controlof music playback can be used.

With reference still to FIG. 2, the communication port 110 can be anytype of port that is configured to receive or transmit electronic dataincluding digital audio files. In an embodiment, the port 110 is aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) port that can receive a USB cable or USBthumb drive. The port 110 is coupled to internal electronic componentsconfigured to send, receive, and store digital audio files. In thisregard, the flat iron 105 includes an internal memory on whichelectronic data, such as digital audio files, can be stored and accessedby the flat iron electronic components. The internal memory andelectronic components are coupled to the speaker for playing the audiofiles over the speaker using the controls 130.

The flat iron may also include an external stereo jack such that theflat iron can be attached to an external stereo. This would permit theuser to broadcast t audio digital signal with the digital music fileover a stereo or karaoke machine, for example.

The flat iron 105 can also include an interface jack for connection witha personal computer such as a USB jack, and may include a means toattach a removable flash memory cartridge or a means to attach otherexternal non-volatile memory devices. In this regard, the communicationport 110 can serve as the jack or a separate jack can also be used inaddition to the communication port.

The flat iron 105 includes a microprocessor in communication with thecontrols 130. The microprocessor includes an external interface in orderfor the flat iron to interface with a computer or outside source (suchas a thumb drive or other external drive) to download or receive digitalmusic files. As mentioned, the microprocessor receives and process anyoutside inputs for the user, such as from the controls 130 or featureson the flat iron. The flat iron 105 may also include a wirelesscommunication element that permits the flat iron 105 to wirelesslycommunicate with external device, such as to send or receive audiofiles. The external devices can include wireless speakers as well aswireless data storage means.

In an embodiment, the digital music files are stored in a non-volatilememory. The non-volatile memory interface may interface with storagemeans that may further save the digital music files to an internal ordiscrete flash memory and/or a removable flash memory. When the portableflat iron includes the ability to receive removable flash memory themusic files may be pre-saved on the removable flash memory prior toinsertion into the flat iron. Moreover the non-volatile memory interface30 may interface with other external storage means, such as a disk driveor even optical type drives.

The flat iron may include a stereo or multi-channel a digital to analogconverter or CODEC to convert the digital signal to an analog signal,which permits the user to listen to the digital music file. The CODECmay be configured to interface, via a headphone interfacing means, withheadphones or with the speaker. The CODEC may also include analog todigital converter means such that the user's voice may be recorded indigital form. The CODEC would be attached to an amplifier and audiomultiplexing means that would allow the portable flat iron 105 tointerface with an on-board microphone and/or an external microphone.

During operation, a user uploads a digital music file into anon-volatile memory via interface of the flat iron. This could beaccomplished by attaching the flat iron to a computer by the computerinterfacing means. The digital music file may also be uploaded to theflat iron by the removable flash memory or a disk drive. After uploadingthe music file, the user would play the digital music file. This is doneby converting the digital audio portion to an analog signal and sendingthe analog signal to an the headphone interfacing means or to theinternal speaker. The user is then able to listen to the audio portionor music through a pair of headphones or through the speaker. As withmost portable digital music players, the digital music file may becompressed, for which the player would decode the music prior toconversion to an analog signal.

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of an invention that is claimed orof what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specificto particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in thisspecification in the context of separate embodiments can also beimplemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures that are described in the context of a single embodiment canalso be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in anysuitable sub-combination. Moreover, although features may be describedabove as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed assuch, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some casesbe excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may bedirected to a sub-combination or a variation of a sub-combination.Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults.

Although embodiments of various methods and devices are described hereinin detail with reference to certain versions, it should be appreciatedthat other versions, embodiments, methods of use, and combinationsthereof are also possible. Therefore the spirit and scope of theappended claims should not be limited to the description of theembodiments contained herein.

1. A portable hair care device, comprising: a grasping region sized andshape to be grasped and held by the hand of a user such that the usercan carry the hair care product; an internal speaker; a digital storageelement configured to store a digital music file; a processor configuredto process the digital music file and send a signal to the internalspeaker for playing music from the digital music file.
 2. A device as inclaim 1, wherein the device is a flat iron.
 3. A device as in claim 1,wherein the device is a hair dryer.
 4. A device as in claim 1, whereinthe device is a hair curler.
 5. A device as in claim 1, wherein thedigital music file is an MP3 file.
 6. A device as in claim 1, furthercomprising an interface jack configured to interface with an externaldevice.
 7. A device as in claim 6, wherein the external device is a harddrive.
 8. A device as in claim 6, wherein the external device is a thumbdrive.
 9. A device as in claim 6, wherein the external device is a pairof head phones.
 10. A device as in claim 6, wherein the interface jackis a USB port.